Self-Management Support

Self-management support is an important part of patient-centered care and care coordination in primary care settings. AHRQ’s Prevention and Chronic Care program has developed a variety of resources to help primary clinicians and teams learn about and implement self-management support.

Self-management support is the help given to people with chronic conditions that enables them to manage their health on a day-to-day basis. Self-management support can help and inspire people to learn more about their conditions and to take an active role in their health care.

The Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) is a systematic method to evaluate and compare the understandability and actionability of patient education materials. It is designed as a guide to help determine whether patients will be able to understand and act on information. Separate tools are available for use with print and audiovisual materials.